Victory in London: The Inside Story of the Boris Campaign

Victory in London

The Inside Story of the Boris Campaign 2012

by Alex Crowley

******

Published by Bretwalda Books at Smashwords

Website : Facebook : Twitter

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

First Published 2012

Copyright © Alex Crowley 2012

Alex Crowley asserts his moral rights to be regarded as the author of this book.

ISBN 978-1-909099-26-5

******

Contents

PROLOGUE

Chapter 1 - FROM CELEBRITY TO MAYOR

Chapter 2 - BEING MAYOR

Chapter 3 - ANNUS HORRIBILIS

Chapter 4 - THE DILEMMA

Chapter 5 - BORIS ENTERS THE RING

Chapter 6 - TAX, A BLUE ANCHOR AND THE FINAL 44 DAYS

Chapter 7 - JUDGEMENT

EPILOGUE

NOTES

APPENDICES

Appendix 1 - Boris's Progress Report February 2012

Appendix 2 -London Mayoral Election Results 2000-2012

******

PROLOGUE

So you’ve bought the book. You’ve settled down into your chair, or maybe your bed. Or you’re sitting bolt upright on the 8.15 to Waterloo, trying not to touch knees with the commuter opposite. Either way, as you open the cover for the first time you’re thinking; what am I about to read?

Well obviously, you’re going to read about Boris Johnson. That bloke with the blonde hair who is Mayor of London. The bloke that makes you laugh, says what he thinks and gets stuck on a zip wire. You may have found yourself asking more than once, just how did he get elected as Mayor – twice? I suspect that’s why you’re reading this. Well let me tell you you’re in for a ripper. Not because of any particular skill on my part, but because the story of how Boris went from lovable buffoon to major political player is unlike any you’ll ever read. At least when it comes to politics.

I’ve had the privilege of working for Boris, on and off, for five years. I was plucked from obscurity to work on his first election campaign for Mayor in 2007/08 and went on to be his political adviser in City Hall before working on his re-election campaign in 2011/12.

People always ask me; what was it like working for him? Is it all just an act, hiding an inner ruthlessness, or is he really that crazy? How did he win two elections in a Labour-voting city? Was it just his personality, or something more? This book is an attempt to answer those questions.

Because of his success and seemingly inexorable rise, this is not the first book about Boris nor, I suspect will it be the last. But it is the first book that looks at Boris the Mayor – how he was first elected, the challenges he faced in what is an important and difficult job and how he got re-elected in the face of voter disillusionment and a ferocious challenge from Ken Livingstone, that other great maverick of British politics. Parts of this story have been told, but never completely, and never by someone who was there virtually every step of the way.

Through these pages, you will see the many sides to Boris that add up to the man we see today. Sides that are seemingly conflicting yet are more like the layers of a croissant – adding up to something rich and substantial.

You will see that he is the same in private as he is in public, as capable of reducing sombre officials to hysterical laughter as a paying audience. You will see a serious thinker with a thirst for knowledge and understanding. A man who thinks at twice the speed of most other people. You will see a man who seeks and enjoys power, a man that can be utterly ruthless yet endearingly compassionate in equal measure. He has sacked a police commissioner, despite having no official power to do so. To deliver taxpayer value, he has taken tough decisions resulting in job losses. At the same time, he cares deeply about the victims in society – whether they are of inequality, crime or prejudice. Once, when travelling through Bond Street tube station during the re-election campaign, he spotted a beggar with severe facial scars. Boris immediately gave the man money and then politely introduced himself to a staff member, asking him to make sure the man was looked after. This, as we scuttled between campaign events on a tight schedule. For all of Ken Livingstone’s posturing, you could never imagine him doing the same. Whatever else is written and said about Boris, that incident sums up the man for me.

You will also see a man who delights and frustrates in equal measure. The man who doesn’t try because he knows he’s brilliant, and the man who makes Margaret Thatcher look like a shirker.

Above all you will be immersed in the great political debate that Boris provokes. Is his fame and sparkle the secret of his electoral success, or a hindrance to it? Can he only succeed by moderating his eccentricities? Is he destined to become Prime Minister? And if he is, will he be a Berlusconi or a Churchill? You will see the debate play fiercely out among his closest advisers in the high-pressure atmosphere of one of the most high profile and closely contested elections in recent history.

I have tried to tell this story in a relatively even-handed way. Of course that’s virtually impossible. I was in the trench with a point of view. Trying to float above that position after the event and see both sides isn’t easy. As I did at the time, where I felt strongly about something, I’ve said so. Where I felt colleagues (including Boris) were wrong, I’ve said so. I have tried to put across their point of view, informed by how they expressed it to me at the time. In doing so, I hope mis-representation is minimal. If there are any errors they are my own.

You will see, in particular, that I have a strongly held view about how politics and election campaigns should be conducted. It is a view thoroughly masticated over the following pages, so I will merely summarise it here by saying that, in the end, you cannot change anything if you don’t win. And you cannot win on instinct alone.

I am a Londoner who believes that the mayoralty is an important institution and uniquely placed to solve some of the deep rooted and intractable problems this city faces. I believe someone like Boris, who is bolder and more principled than most other politicians, is what the mayoralty was designed for. I believe the mayoralty is one of the best and most influential positions in politics because the mayor is free to make the tough calls. It is one of the biggest prizes in British politics. I hope in years to come, it will attract other talented politicians (not necessarily high profile) who would otherwise be lost in the sterile Westminster bubble.

I also believe that the manner in which the two election campaigns were fought and won contain important insights for future Conservative election campaigns. Boris beat the toughest opponent in British politics twice because he combined his supreme talents with innovative and highly disciplined campaigns. In these pages you will read how this was achieved.

Just before you turn to the action, a brief word about how the mayoralty is structured. The position of Mayor of London was created in 1999 and the mayor is in charge of something called the Greater London Authority (GLA). His main powers are in planning, transport, housing and policing. He raises money from a share of council tax bills, as well as tube and bus fares, and Government grant. The GLA oversees other bodies that run various services in London, such as Transport for London (TfL) and the Metropolitan Police. Also within the GLA is something called the London Assembly, an elected body of 25 members whose purpose is to hold the Mayor to account (although they have few powers to do so). Elections are held every four years, and at the time of writing there have been two Mayors, Ken Livingstone (2000 – 2008) and Boris Johnson (2008 – present).

I make clear distinctions between those who were campaign staff and those who were part of the mayoral team. I refer to the latter, in general, with the shorthand ‘City Hall’ and this usually refers to the team of deputy mayors and advisers that surround Boris.

Finally my thanks must go to Boris, Lynton Crosby, Mark Fullbrook, Sam Lyon, Sir Edward Lister, Dan Ritterband and Richard Blakeway for their generous help, advice and support. It is a general rule of the best practitioners of election campaigns to keep what happens in them private, often for very good reasons. I am therefore grateful to all for trusting me to write this book and shining a light on what happened. Above all, I would like to thank my wife, Robyn for her endless patience and incisive and candid assessment of the manuscript as it evolved. I couldn’t have done it (as with so many other endeavours in my life) without her love and support.

And now you can turn over the page and begin….

Boris watches on as Lynton Crosby, Sam Lyon, Alex Crowley and Guy Robinson digest another opinion poll during the election campaign of 2012.

******

CHAPTER ONE

FROM CELEBRITY TO MAYOR

JULY 2007 – MAY 2008

The hat goes swirling into the ring….

Boris?! Boris?! The squeaking voice of the highly-strung, well dressed, slightly portly Conservative London Assembly member rang out through the 6th floor of London’s City Hall. Staffers like me had become used to histrionics from this particular member. Yet, for once, his outburst broadly resonated.

The date was 16th July 2007. After a desperate search for viable candidates and months of speculation, Boris Johnson had finally confirmed he was going to run for London Mayor.

The subject had been hotly debated within the London Conservative party for weeks. It would be great fun, most felt, but he was obviously doing it for nothing more than that.

Particularly sceptical were the Conservative members of the London Assembly. The Assembly is the elected body that scrutinises the Mayor of London. There’s no reason why you should have heard of it. It is a largely toothless, faceless entity. After almost 8 years of being utterly dominated by Ken Livingstone, there was a certain resignation amongst the long serving Conservative members. They had tried to lay numerous gloves on Red Ken – with very little success. The truth was they had been pummelled into submission. A sort of institutionalised fog had descended and wrapped them in a cloak of defeatism – Ken could never be beaten, they reasoned, even though they would love it to be by someone like Boris.

Despite this, members and staffers like myself rushed down from the 6th floor and took our place among a sizeable crowd that had gathered outside the ‘glass testicle’ by the Thames – as Ken Livingstone once dubbed London’s City Hall.

Ken Livingstone, undoubtedly one of the sharpest and most effective political campaigners in Britain - and Boris's opponent.

It was the sort of welcoming committee someone graduating from B-list to A-list might expect. Not quite Beckham, but enough to make you more intimate with the people around you than strictly necessary. It was a glorious day. The sunlight hit the glass panels of Norman Foster’s creation, scrunched up into a ball of sparkle and broke up into flares that shot down and danced on the River Thames.

I wasn’t to know it then, but this moment marked the start of a remarkable journey that took me from being an office junior to a double mayoral election winner and senior mayoral adviser within the space of five years. A journey that would see me witness, first hand, the incredible political rise of one of the most high profile politicians in the country. A rise that, at the time of writing, seems set to continue.

I watched, bemused as two minders barked orders at the assembled media, bunching the journalists into a huddle – their huddle, to do with as they pleased. The crowd waited expectantly; the press and Boris’s aides played a thrilling game of cat and mouse. As they were distracted with phone calls, the huddle would creep forward, before being caught and ordered back. This Flanders Field-esque move and counter move continued for several minutes as the usual jokes about Boris being late did the rounds.

And then, from behind the curve of the building, a dishevelled blonde mop suddenly appeared. The hacks surged forward, as Boris Johnson walked out, wheeling his bicycle in one hand, waving with the other. He was quickly enveloped in a chaotic scrum of journalists that pushed, cajoled and circled around him. There were no preliminaries. Just a hailstorm of machine-gunned questions. As the scrum veered this way and that, Boris breathlessly declared he was thrilled and excited to be standing.

Through the noise (and interruption) eventually emerged the following words:

"London is an outstandingly varied and beautiful place and it deserves a proper debate. I want to bring fresh ideas to the capital and offer a new direction for Londoners.

Even the greatest cities have further greatness in them. I will stand for a greater London and for putting the smile back on London’s face.1

It wasn’t quite St Francis of Assisi, but it was Boris.

I stood on the periphery of the rather surreal scene quietly observing this group of grizzled hacks shed their cynicism and inhibitions to display a kind of infectious, childlike excitement. Boris hadn’t even been selected as the official Tory candidate, yet he was already being treated as an election winner. In the first twenty minutes of Boris’s mayoral journey, he was demonstrating his most powerful weapon – an ability to connect with people and make them happy. A skill other politicians would chew off their own feet for.

Boris out on the campaign trail during his first election to be Mayor of London. He would always draw a crowd, and usually had them eating from the palm of his hand.

Of course, I was a huge fan. I had read his books, seen him on TV and generally considered him a top class human being. I was genuinely excited to see him in the flesh. As I stood there in the sun, I contemplated the possibility of him actually making a go of it.

I had been a junior staffer at City Hall for two years, and in that time I had grown immensely frustrated at the Tory party’s inability to defeat Ken Livingstone. I longed for them to take the mayoral contest seriously – but until this moment, it seemed like they had already given up on the race.

Various candidates had been talked about; radio shock jock Nick Ferrari, Big Issue founder John Bird, even former BBC Director General Greg Dyke. All had passed up the opportunity. Instead, it looked like the party would choose from the usual assortment of non-entity councillors and wannabe MPs, any one of which would be easily swatted aside by Ken.

Now, finally, did we have a potential winner on the ticket?

Also there that day from Boris’s future inner circle was Guto Harri – in his then guise as the BBC political correspondent. He summed up the media verdict perfectly. In his report that day, he described Boris as having a rare combination of qualities. Man of the people and toff, classical scholar and buffoon, much loved celebrity and politician. He concluded with the question on everyone’s minds; but is he actually qualified for the job?2

Boris eventually fought his way through the scrum and with a somewhat implausible nimbleness, hopped on his bike and tottered away. Like a school of migrating tuna, the hacks had dispersed as quickly as they had formed.

The verdict among the gathered Assembly members was instant – there was no way bumbling Boris had the discipline to match such a consummate pro as Ken Livingstone.

It was a view unsurprisingly shared by Ken. Just a few days after the announcement, at Mayor’s Question Time, he entered the nasal octave he reserves for objects of special derision (the sort of deep base nasal tone that wakes hibernating voles); I can’t see Boris Johnson concentrating on the minutia of the PPP contracts! All you would have got by now is, ‘I am sorry’ and he would be off to a TV show!3

This was one thing Livingstone and the bulk of the Tory Assembly members wholeheartedly agreed on.

I took a different view, however. I was quietly positive that if he took this seriously, he could beat Ken. When I aired this view I was greeted with hearty, derisive laughter. He’s very funny, but he hasn’t got a clue, they would chortle. Only we know London, the Assembly members gravely intoned. Anyone else will come unstuck within weeks, they dismissed.

Part of the problem was that the Conservatives had little interest in the London mayoralty. They opposed its creation from the start and had lost the two elections there had already been. Thus, they had come to view the mayoralty with weary pragmatism. Ken Livingstone served a very useful purpose, noisily defying the then Labour Government. As long as Ken kept being the fly in their ointment, the Tories were content to let him be.

To me, the 2008 contest had to be treated differently. Gordon Brown had just become Prime Minister, and speculation was already mounting he would call an early election in order to secure his own mandate. Either way, with an election due by 2010 at the latest, the party needed to demonstrate momentum, particularly in places like London. Victory in London would prove they could do it nationwide.

More importantly, Ken Livingstone was doing immense damage to London’s reputation. Allowing him to run for re-election without a serious challenger was simply not an option. Londoners deserved a proper contest.

I saw at first hand the all-powerful court of Ken and the personal fiefdom that he had created at City Hall. The mayoralty was designed to be strong. Although there is an elected body to keep an eye on the Mayor (the London Assembly) they have little real power to block anything. This meant that Ken could do what he liked – from striking oil deals with South American dictators to doling out public money to every pet political cause he felt like. He behaved appallingly at times, and he did so because he knew no one had the power or the guts to challenge him. He had to be stopped. And my view was that he could be stopped.

However, the prevailing view in the Conservative Party at the time was that the voting system would always disadvantage them. London’s mayor is elected by a system known as the ‘supplementary vote’. This means that voters are given two choices – a first and second preference. The winner is decided by counting first preference votes and then adding second preference votes if no one gets over half of all votes cast. In practice, the contest has always gone to second preferences.

The